As semiconductor light emitting devices used as light emitting diodes which emit ultraviolet, blue, or green light and laser diodes which emit ultraviolet, blue, or green light, for example, semiconductor light emitting devices are known which include a nitride-based compound semiconductor layer represented by the formula InxGayAlzN (x+y+z=1, 0≦x≦1, 0≦y≦1, and 0≦z≦1). The semiconductor light emitting devices include a substrate, a semiconductor layer, and electrodes and are manufactured by a method comprising the steps of stacking the semiconductor layer on the substrate by means of epitaxial growth and then forming the electrodes.
In viewpoint of increase in brightness of the semiconductor light emitting devices, a study of improvements in methods for manufacturing the semiconductor light emitting devices has been made. For example, a method has been proposed which comprises the steps of applying a block copolymer comprised of polystyrene and polymethyl methacrylate onto a semiconductor layer acting as the light output surface of a nitride semiconductor light emitting device, heating the copolymer layer to phase separate polystyrene (PS) and polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) from the copolymer, removing PMMA by means of RIE (reactive ion etching) through the use of a difference in the rate of RIE between PS and PMMA, etching the light output surface of the semiconductor light emitting device by RIE and PS as a mask, removing PS to form conic convex portions in the light output surface, and then forming electrodes (see JP No. 2003-218383). However, it is required to develop a method for manufacturing a higher-brightness semiconductor light emitting device.